LDA Design

If we aren’t trying to maximise positive social impact when we create new homes, places and spaces, then what are we actually doing? That’s not to say it’s easy. There is much to learn still about creating social value and getting it right. It’s why we’re thrilled, as long-standing supporters of The Developer, to sponsor their Festival of Place: Social Impact 2025. A chance for us all rethink the forces that shape our towns and cities over two long lunches. As always with a The Developer and Festival of Place event, there’s a diversity in the offer – from overcoming barriers in the market to creating affordable housing and assessing the social impact of rental homes to how we can better amplify marginal voices, putting young people into the heart of the design and development process. LDA Design’s Sophie Thompson and Chris Koster from Coastal Partners will be presenting too – discussing the opportunities for making investment in flood prevention work much harder for people and place. Sign up to learn together. It’s critical that we do. 📅 24-25 March 🕚 11:00-3:00pm 📍 Online Register to attend: https://lnkd.in/dbyRmpNG Christine Murray James MacLeod #socialimpact #TheDeveloper #FestivalOfPlace #LDADesign #placemaking #housing #ESG #socialvalue #planning #urbandesign #publicspaces #floodrisk #floodprevention #infrastructure #landscapearchitecture #sustainabledesign #inclusivedesign

We're delighted to be working with Homes England and CampbellReith on plans for new homes on the outskirts of #Compton in West Berkshire. Located within the beautiful chalk downlands of the #NorthWessexDowns, this site was the former home of the Pirbright Institute for Animal Health. Planning permission was granted to Homes England in 2022 for up to 160 homes and since then the site’s buildings have been demolished and the land made good in readiness. LDA Design prepared a #planning strategy to preserve the extant permission and is now working on a #masterplan ahead of a new planning application going in later this year. The project benefits from a strong, multidisciplinary team working to deliver the best #outcomes for Compton and the new residents to be based here. The site will also include generous green space with new habitats for wildlife, plus employment land. LDA Design is providing planning, #masterplanning and #landscape design, working alongside project managers and technical consultants CampbellReith. The team also includes TEP - The Environment Partnership; ECF, FLOH Consulting and ACCON UK Limited. It is being jointly led by Chris King and Susie Byrne MRTPI of LDA Design and Tristan Tucker and Marian Cameron of CampbellReith. Great work also by #LDA's Hannah Harkis Kris Hindhaugh Manfredi Pedone and Katarzyna Raczkowska. #HomesEngland #WestBerkshire #Compton #newhomes #community #firstlife #landscapeled #LDADesign #placemaking #connectivity #belonging

This week, LDA Design's Benjamin Walker Sarah Touzeau and Joanne Walker are heading to #Dublin and #Ireland2050: Balanced by Design - a conference hosted by the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) and The Academy of Urbanism (AoU) exploring what it takes to deliver liveable and successful towns and cities. Areas of focus include #leadership and collaboration; the national imperative - #challenge and #opportunity; #design responses and systemic challenges. Day two includes a spotlight on #Helsinki - vision and #masterplanning. We're very much enjoying the work we are doing in #Ireland and this forum should be a great opportunity to discuss the benefits of a #firstlife approach and of leading with the #landscape to create #sustainable, welcoming places that have the right ingredients for success. See you there! 📅 25 - 26 March, all day 📍 Dublin Castle, Dublin - in person Details here: https://lnkd.in/dzgutFQW #placemaking #landscapeled #landscapedesign #urbandesign #masterplan #bettertown #bettercity #greenercity

#SketchFriday is a lovely full stop to a busy week. A time to think about something else for a minute or to travel somewhere without leaving the armchair. This week, we're in for a treat as Robert Ellis takes us high up into the mountains with sketches from a trip to Patagonia. Drawn when on a hike, Rob wanted to capture the wild weather, the brilliant camping in the trees and the spectacular lake and mountains at the end of the trek. The wind, rain and snow meant there was also lots of time in cabins and tents to sketch from photos and memory. What better way to pause, relax, observe and reflect. We really love them. Hope you do too. Pencils out, everyone. #Sketching #Sketch #Art #Patagonia #TravelSketches #LDADesign

Forests are good for the planet and us, which is why the Japanese practice Shinrin-yoku or forest bathing. An immersion into the forest canopy as a way of recalibrating and de-stressing. To mark #InternationalDayofForests, try it out this weekend, if the rain holds off or even if it doesn’t. According to Forest Research, the UK is one of the least densely forested countries in Europe with only 13% forest cover compared to 46% for Europe as a whole and 31% worldwide. However, unlike tropical primary forests worldwide – which are being lost at a rate of 10 football pitches per minute – in the UK, we are gaining more than we are losing. In 2024, the UK saw a decrease of around 3,000 hectares in certified woodland but gained 20,660 hectares. Up on the year before, which is good, but there’s so much more that we could be doing. Quantifying and providing hard evidence as to the benefits of forests and woodlands is one way of strengthening protection. Tools like i-Tree, used by Treeconomics, can help to ensure decision making is properly informed, helping to prove what we instinctively know and making stronger cases for retention. And on the topic of retention, we wanted to take this opportunity to celebrate the ageing crack willows at Lee Valley Ice Centre. Removal was on the cards for these magnificent specimens, but by introducing a wildflower meadow under them, which people instinctively do not walk over, we were able to save them and protect crucial existing habitats for bats and invertebrates. Nature smarts to protect our #trees, #woodlands, and #forests wherever and whenever we can.  https://lnkd.in/eyAS--rF Photo 📸 Joanna Asia Milewska #forests #forestbathing #ecosystems #greenercities #nature #biophilia

📢 Birmingham City Council has approved the first homes within Lendlease's #BirminghamSmithfield development. The plans include a 408-home apartment block by Bell Phillips and Birmingham-based practice Intervention Architecture, with a landscape by LDA Design that’s made for socialising. A moated manor house once stood on this site, and the public space reflects this heritage with an elegant circular design. There is also a communal rooftop terrace by LDA Design and a pavilion by Intervention Architecture that will house a sunset lounge, communal dining, events space and work-from-home facilities. The mixed-use building features a leisure facility to promote health and wellbeing, along with a mix of independent shops, bars, and restaurants. Communal facilities include a ‘library of things’ where people can borrow household items, tools and appliances, fostering a sense of community. This is the initial phase of a 17ha development, a joint venture between the Council and Lendlease that will regenerate an iconic city centre site, including Birmingham’s 800-year-old Bull Ring Markets which are to be retained and housed in two new buildings. Overall, Birmingham Smithfield will deliver 3,000 new homes and an extensive new network of #greeninfrastructure and public spaces designed to reflect the area’s history. Engagement involving Birmingham’s diverse communities has helped shape the plans, including with residents, businesses and community organisations, market traders, and a dedicated youth panel. Well done, everyone, including LDA Design’s Catherine Birkin, Tim South, Max Barnes and Soniya Stephen. We’re looking forward to next steps. https://lnkd.in/eVgFzZ4P #BirminghamSmithfield #BirminghamCityCentre #BirminghamNewStreet #publicspaces #bettercity #placemaking #socialcity #landscape

LDA Design's Sophie Thompson in action with Chris Koster of Coastal Partners next week at The Developer and Festival of Place Social Impact. Two long lunches with loads to find out about how we make sure place-based work has a greater, fairer impact on more people. Needed now more than ever. https://lnkd.in/dbyRmpNG 📅 Tuesday 25th March 🕛 12-1pm 📍 Online Members free. Two-day agenda here: https://lnkd.in/eh6sPVzv Christine Murray James MacLeod #FestivalOfPlace #SocialImpact #UrbanPlanning #Placemaking #CityDesign #SocialHousing #PublicSpaces #BetterCities #Wellbeing #EmpatheticDesign #BetterPlaces #FairerPlaces

Thanks for having us University of Gloucestershire at your Practice Day. LDA Design's Jemma Hall and Georgina Perry had a great day and met some really interesting and interested students eager to find out more about life as a #landscapearchitect, #urbandesigner and #planner and what it's like to be part of an #employee-owned consultancy. This photo taken while they still had some sweets and postcards left. #University #careers #careersfair #practiceday #graduates #landscapearchitecture #urbandesign #planning #Bristol

Next week is The Developer and Festival of Place on Social Impact – two long lunches (24-25th March, 11-3pm) to get everyone thinking about how to maximise the positive impacts of new development. You can register and view the recordings when it suits if you can’t make space in your calendar. Well worth doing. https://lnkd.in/dbyRmpNG   LDA Design director Sophie Thompson and Chris Koster, team leader for Coastal Partners, will discuss how to make the Government’s £2.65 billion spend on flood defences work much harder so that long under-invested in coastal communities benefit more widely.   In ‘Beyond the Water’, Sophie and Chris will discuss their work together on #Southsea, the UK’s largest local-authority-led coastal defence scheme, which is reducing flood risk for more than 10,000 homes and 700 businesses along a 4.5km stretch of coast.   When first proposed, local people feared what this investment might look like and mean for Southsea, but the project team (including Portsmouth City Council Royal HaskoningDHV VolkerStevin Wessex Archaeology Southsea Coastal Scheme) have run with the opportunity to transform the seafront, with new public spaces, planting, play and comfy seating, all integrated with the coastal defences. 📅 Tuesday 25th March 🕛 12-1pm  📍 Online Members free. Full programme here: https://lnkd.in/eh6sPVzv Christine Murray James MacLeod #TheDeveloper #FestivalofPlace #digitallearning #socialimpact #socialvalue #placemaking #communitybenefits #bettertowns #floodrisk #flooding #coastalcommunities #investment #infrastructure #coastaldefence #landscapearchitecture #publicrealm

University College London has always been an education pioneer, and it continues to make bold moves. It is almost doubling in size with its new campus on #EastBank, the cultural quarter in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. When we partnered with UCL and LLDC on a #masterplan for the #campus, we set out to create a new model which welcomes in the #community. So, for this week’s #SketchFriday, we’re looking back at the early thinking that laid the groundwork for what is being built out today at UCL East. Our ambition was to make sure the masterplan clearly expressed UCL’s academic vision and values by creating a social environment, connecting the buildings, the public realm and the wider Park setting. Key was the creation of a Fluid Zone, with space flowing in at ground and first floor level and sweeping upwards creating more opportunity to socialise for students and staff and pulling the public in to discover and learn. Here are some of the sketches from that masterplan. If you’re heading to the Park any time soon, check out the campus as it emerges, including One Pool Street, a self-catering halls of residence by architects Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands, and Marshgate, a centre of research and learning designed by Stanton Williams. Here's an article we wrote which gives more detail: 'A place where great things can happen': https://lnkd.in/eyKxzP9j Bernie Foulkes Evgeny Didorenko #SketchFriday #watercolours #FluidZone #bettercity #community #LLDC #QueenElizabethOlympicPark #QEOP #EastBank #sketches #masterplan #London #University #campus